Migrant children's digital stories

This article starts out from the European research project Children in Communication about Migration (CHICAM). It addresses questions about intercultural communication via the internet and about media production as a vehicle for personal expression and identity formation among excluded youth groups. The article starts out from a cultural theoretical perspective linked to an empirical analysis, which is based on a series of selected productions made by 12 to 14-year-old refugees. The productions represent various programme genres and formats. The use of visual language such as representational conventions are highlighted in order to find out how identities are (re)created in the process of media production. The article touches upon these productions as they reflect not only experiences in dealing with cultural tensions between the 'old' and the 'new' world, but also their views on their future life and on the conditions that they find crucial in developing themselves

Women and young girls tell their stories on migration and media practices : Generational order and identity positions

Migrant women is an important group in the debate about citizenship and participation as studies have shown that they (at least in some ethnic communities) seem to be more isolated from the broader society compared to men. Studies have indicated that migrant women risk marginalization as they are caught in an intersection of being immigrants and women (Gillespie, 1995; Berger, 2004). However, gender issues have so far got little attention, as compared to studies on religion and class. This paper will therefore look more specifically at gender, in this case women and their lived experiences of migration and the role of media in the migration process. Special attention is devoted to whether the Internet may be used as a means of empowerment and its significance for social, cultural and religious purposes and participation. Also, implications for exercising citizenship practices, both in the homeland and in the “new” country are highlighted. Women’s specific Internet use will be analyzed with relation to their everyday experiences (and life as a family) but also in relation to these women’s concerns about exclusion/inclusion (social, economic, political) in society. The concerns raised in this paper evoke the broader question about citizenship in the sense of participation, i.e. the more active involvement of citizens in shaping their futures. We draw upon the concept of ‘fragmented citizenship’ here (Wiener, 1997) as it acknowledges the potential distinction between the notion of belonging and the more legal aspect of nationality. For diasporic communities, the notion of fragmented citizenship is an everyday experience, as waiting for a residence permit (legal belonging) can be at odds with participation in the new society as migrants and residents at the same time. The analysis will also be framed within current discussions on civic culture (Dahlgren, 2006) and the need to rethink traditional parameters of citizenship, and its focus on the public sphere, and instead look into the terrain of the private and the experiential domain of everyday life. Such a discussion may increase our understanding of how diasporic women negotiate both a ‘diasporic gender identity’ in terms of old and new belongings as well as their capacity for participation and citizenship, that is, empowerment and recognition in the private and public spheres. Nancy Fraser (1992) argues from a gender perspective, in her well known critique of habermasian theory of the public sphere, for multiplicity of publics as a means to create spaces of participation especially for marginalized groups. And therefore the analysis has also to consider that the rise of communicative spaces is not exclusively indebted to new communication technology: there are other spaces of participation relevant in the everyday lives of migrant women that also need to be identified. The paper is based on an in-depth study with migrant families living in Sweden that was carried out during a period of three years implying interviews and observations in home-settings. The methodological approach is a phenomenological and narrative perspective in order to understand a small group of women’s perceptions and interpretations of daily life in the light of their Internet practices

Discourses on media portrayals of immigrants and the homeland

If they were to provide an equal flow of information and promote communication among people, the media might be seen as ideal facilitators of a living democracy. However, in today’s media-saturated society with increased access to different media (e.g., minority, transnational, national and local media), claims are being raised that democracy is under threat and that multicultural civil society is tending towards fragmentation, encouraging exclusion rather than inclusion between cultural groups. Do specific cultural readings encourage the formation of, for example, so-called ‘media ghettos’ and/or ‘multiple public sphericules’? The present paper examines how media coverage of migrants and their home country is perceived among migrant families in Sweden. Most research thus far has focused on the media text rather than on media uses and practices. But by applying a media-ethnographic discursive approach, we have directed our attention to the migrants themselves in order to illuminate the complex relationship between different readings of certain media texts. Of importance is attaining knowledge about the role of the media in migrants’ perception of Swedish society and “Swedes”, but also about how one looks at oneself as a migrant. The study shows that there are close interconnections between specific media readings and the perception of, for example, dominating discourses in society related to immigration. Several key issues are discussed among the informants in order to confirm cultural affiliations such as the search for the ‘truth’ and media objectivity, seeking alternative portrayals of reality from transnational media (e.g., Al-Jazeera). Other topics raised are cultural imperialism, non-ethical Western journalism in terms of lifestyle, values and violence, but also the need to belong to a national mediated public sphere. The paper shows that, despite predominantly critical voices about media coverage, media use is not only a matter of minority and diasporic media displacing local and national media, but rather that the informants prefer to use a mixture of different media

Women in diasporic communities tell their stories : A generational perspective

Mediepraktiker i det nya lande

Talk on the Media’s Role in Creating Otherness and Exclusion : Discursive Identifications and Public (Dis)Connections

In this article, we examine how media coverage of migration issues and portrayal of migrants are reflected upon and talked about among families with migrant backgrounds living in Sweden. To date, most Nordic media research on migration has focused on studying media texts, such as representations of migrant and minority issues, rather than on media uses and practices. However, the present study is based on a discursive and contextual approach to media reception, implying in-depth informant interviews, mainly in people’s homes, supported by observations and field notes. Attention is directed towards the informants’ readings of certain media texts, with particular emphasis on their views concerning the media’s role in the creation of otherness and exclusion. Key issues like “truth” and media objectivity, cultural imperialism, non-ethical Western journalism in terms of lifestyle, and norms and values exemplify how symbolic exclusion operates, which in the long run may have profound implications on people’s connections to a shared public world

Entering national ideological horizons through Swedish media

The proposed paper examines how various Swedish media like television, teletext, radio and newspapers were used among migrants as a means to be informed about the Swedish society as well as a means to actually learn the Swedish language. Central concepts are national ideological horizons related to issues concerning citizenship and participation. The discussion is based on data collected in a project, in which in-depth interviews with migrant families (children and their parents) from countries in South Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia were carried out. A major finding was that the families when they were newly arrived relied heavily on mediated experiences. The media played a role of conveying knowledge about the new society and to learn the Swedish language through for example children’s programs. In families where the parents had limited knowledge of Swedish the children even sometimes got the role of translating news for their parents. Also the importance of personal networks was mentioned as a way of being informed about national as well as local matters. The chapter will frame this type of findings into a discussion on the relation between national ideological horizons of e.g. “Swedishness” and issues of identity, citizenship and participation.Artikel abstract har genomgått reviewprocessMedia Practices in the New Countr